


My People

by stellalunar



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 3RACHA, Chaptered, College, Embarrassing First Meetings, Emotions, Hurt/Comfort, I WILL FINISH IT., M/M, Slow Burn, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, They're Kinda a Thing, eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:47:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23799478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellalunar/pseuds/stellalunar
Summary: "Uh, hi, does Han Jisung live here?" Seungmin asks, biting his lip. Man, it would be awkward if he had the wrong apartment.The man's face barely changes, but he nods."Yah, Jisung-ah, someone's here for you!" The man calls over his shoulder."If Kim Seungmin is not at the door I don't wanna hear it!" Seungmin hears someone (Jisung?) call next.What. The actual fuck.orMinho's solution to Seungmin's song problems involve a boy (Godsend producer, Minho quips). The problems begin when said boy already seems to know Seungmin's name, age, major, and how he likes his coffee--and they don't end at that, either.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Kim Seungmin, Hwang Hyunjin/Seo Changbin, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 57
Kudos: 240





	1. the times i'd rather not think about

**Author's Note:**

> was this inspired by that 3racha unreleased song they teased that i'm also probably never gonna get to hear because they're bitches?  
> yes, yes it was.

"How's it coming along, then?"

Seungmin jumps in his chair at Hyunjin's voice, turning around to find the him now leaning over his shoulder and peering at his computer. He glances at Seungmin briefly before looking back at the sketch. 

"I have the outline just about done," Seungmin answers, turning back to his computer to hit save again. He's paranoid that one day his work will just randomly disappear and he'll have to start all over again--it's his absolute worst nightmare. It _actually_ gives him nightmares. 

"I just need," Seungmin closes the application and leans back, sighing heavily, "a theme and a song." 

Hyunjin plops down on the couch, helping himself to all the personal space in the living room and next to Seungmin. 

"Technically you could use any song that's not copyrighted on the Internet," Hyunjin offers. "And whatever song you use would give you a theme." 

Seungmin digs the heels of his palms into his eyes. 

"Yeah, but--that's so basic," he mutters. "It's supposed to be unique." 

When he opens his eyes again Hyunjin is giving him a disgusted look from his lounging position. 

"You have the option to not do more work and you're choosing to do it anyways?" Hyunjin shakes his head. "Kim Seungmin, you need mental help." 

Seungmin just flips Hyunjin off and stalks into his kitchen to make ramen. 

"Not all of us are lazy bums, Hyunjin," he calls over his shoulder. He hears Hyunjin reply, but the whining tunes itself out somewhere halfway to his ears and he doesn't quite make out the complaint. 

Eventually he manages to kick Hyunjin out of his apartment and back to his own, despite the fact that he spends forty-five minutes complaining about how the food tastes better at Seungmin's apartment. And besides that he only leaves when Seungmin shoves a couple of cup ramen cups at him and kicks him out the door to trot home with free food. 

Then he sits down and mopes in front of the TV, clicking moodily through the channels. He could, per Hyunjin's suggestions, just go through those creator-advertised websites and pay a random person to make him a song. Or even easier than that he could just go through YouTube, find a channel that has no-copyright songs, and use it to his advantage. He'd just have to be able to create a theme around it. 

Seungmin's only issue with that is that he wants his theme to be raw. Well, raw in his perspective at least. Unique doesn't really fit the description that someone else's created song would give unless he'd have discussed it with them, and Lord knows he has no producing skills of his own. 

What a mess. 

"What are you groaning about? You sound like an old man," Minho comments cheerfully as he strolls into the living room and collapses into their loveseat. 

Seungmin glares at him. "When did you even get home?" 

"Two minutes ago. I heard you orchestrating about something so I came here to make sure you weren't being murdered," Minho responses, popping his gum at Seungmin because the bastard knows he despises it. 

Seungmin makes a disgusted face and looks away from Minho. 

"I'm contemplating my life existence. Leave me alone," he mutters. 

"If this is about your project Hyunjin told me you were being stingy about the music for your animation," Minho offers helpfully, flashing him a grin as he turns himself sideways and hangs his feet over the chair. Some ad about a vacuum cleaner drones on in the background as he talks. 

"I am not being stingy," Seungmin huffs, crossing his arms. Really, everyone's making such a big deal about his uniqueness aspect. Is it his fault if he wants a good grade and perhaps a chance at being featured? He thinks not. "I'm trying to do it _right_." 

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, nerd," Minho sighs, flapping his hands like Seungmin's the most boring person on the planet. "Anyways, don't thank me yet, but I have brought you the solution to all your problems." 

Seungmin eyes him suspiciously. Coming from Minho, that doesn't sound very promising, considering the fact that his solution to the cockroach in their bathroom had been to not shower for a week. And it was the week he had dance practice every other day, and Seungmin had nearly left the apartment on account of the fact that it stunk so bad. 

(And beyond that, Seungmin had taken three showers in that time and the cockroach sitting by their trash can had peacefully kept to itself and not bothered him in the slightest. Though it may have been dead.)

"I highly doubt that." 

Minho turns his head and looks him up and down like he's sizing him up. 

"Be more grateful, bitch, I'm about to present you with the best answer ever," he furrows his eyebrows. 

Seungmin rolls his eyes and waits for Minho to get on with his dramatics. 

"You should try getting one of the music compositing majors to make you a song," Minho says, and then holds his arms out like he's just presented Seungmin with a bag of a thousand gold bars. 

"Hyung, and I mean this with absolutely no offense whatsoever to the composition majors," Seungmin blinks, "most of their songs are absolute trash. They're still beginners, they all suck. I heard the song Felix got composed for his dance solo last year and it was _shit_." 

"Okay, first of all," Minho sits upright, "that was because Felix asked a freshman to make his song, and he gave him absolutely no details as to what he wanted. Second of all, you didn't let me finish." 

"Fine, Your Majesty, go on," Seungmin shakes his head exasperatedly. 

Minho ruffles his hair and runs his hand through the mess. "You know the song I danced to in the beginning of the year?"

"Hellevator?" Seungmin raises an eyebrow when Minho nods. "What about it?" 

"I had it composed for me by a kid named Han Jisung. He's a sophomore--he's in your year--and he's a composition major. Like, a crazy, crazy talented composition major. He produces with two of his friends--but he's an absolute godsend. I think you should give him a visit." 

Seungmin bites the inside of his cheek. 

"He composed your dance song?" He asks. He's slightly concerned Minho's making the whole thing just to make him look stupid. But Minho looks dead serious, and as annoying as he may be he doesn't play that dirty. "The one you won with?" 

"I mean," Minho shrugs, "technically my choreo won, but the song definitely helped a ton. I bought him coffee for like, a straight month after that because it definitely boosted my score a ton." 

"How am I just hearing about this?" 

Minho shrugs again. "You never asked." 

Seungmin leans back. Minho's song during the competition had been incredible, perfect for Minho's style of dancing. He'd been able to choreograph his moves to the beat perfectly and had out-danced everyone else by an absolute landslide. If the kid had been able to tailor for Minho, he should be able to tailor for Seungmin...

"If I give him a theme will he be able to work with it?" 

Minho nods. "Yep. I told him exactly what I wanted the song to be about and he wrote the lyrics for it. I had him tweak them a bit, of course, but he's a really good lyricist. You'd be in good hands, I promise." 

Seungmin bites his lip and leans forward again, picking at his cuticles. 

"You have his address?" 

Minho smiles and pulls out his phone. 

When Seungmin had agreed to meet Han Jisung, he hadn't expected it to be the very same week. But Minho had all but kicked him out of the apartment with an address and an evil smirk on his face, so now here he is, entering the apartment complex on the other side of campus with a grimace on his face. 

He's not exactly bad with new people, but it's going to be slightly awkward, no doubt about it. Jisung doesn't know who he is, much less why he would randomly be showing up at his dorm. Maybe they'll hate each other and this won't work out. Maybe Jisung isn't as good as Minho had made him out to be and he actually won't be able to make a song Seungmin likes. There are so many things that could go wrong. 

Through all his wallowing he's reached the complex he was supposed to and he steps into the lobby and onto the elevator, clutching his wallet tighter in his hand. He hadn't been sure whether he was supposed to dress up for a first meeting or not but had ultimately decided not to, considering the fact that he's just walking in on this poor boy and he won't have had any time to prepare. 

Seungmin steps out of the elevator and onto the fourth floor, taking a deep breath before walking down the hallway and stopping in front of 317. 

The number is peeling off the door so it looks more like 3.7, but it's implied that he's in front of the right door. He takes another sharp inhale, raises his knuckles, and raps on the door once. 

Almost immediately there's a commotion from inside and Seungmin is made all too aware of the papery thin walls that separate each apartment from the next, because he hears the conversation clearly. 

( _"It's your turn to get it!"_

_"It's literally not, I got it last time."_

_"The last time someone knocked on our door was on Monday! And you weren't here, I got it!"_

_"Tell Chan-hyung to get it!"_

_"Chan-hyung, get the door!"_

_"I get it every time, one of you get it!"_

_"Who did you even invite over this time?"_

_"No one! Everyone we know would just barge in!"_

_"For fuck's sake, just go get the door!"_

_"You son of a--ow, you mother--"_

_"I'll...just go ahead and get the door then.”)_

Every sentence is accentuated with a very concerning crash or thud that has Seungmin regretting this entire trip because he's clearly walked into some sort of pigsty rather than a sane kid's apartment. 

And then the door swings open, revealing an exasperated man with curly brown hair and deep dimples that pop up in both cheeks when he offers Seungmin a very forced smile. There's still banging in the background and it's slightly concerning, still, but Seungmin shakes his head and looks at the man. Is this Han Jisung? He doesn't look like he'd be in Seungmin's year--not much older, but definitely older. Perhaps a roommate. 

Besides, he doesn't seem to recognize Seungmin, either, coming from the very practiced smile on his face. 

"Hi, can I help you?" he asks. 

Seungmin tries to smoothen his face out so he doesn't look as off-put as he feels. 

"Uh, hi, does Han Jisung live here?" Seungmin asks, biting his lip. Man, it would be awkward if he had the wrong apartment. 

The man's face barely changes, but he nods. 

"Yah, Jisung-ah, someone's here for you!" The man calls over his shoulder. 

So, not Jisung. Okay, expected. And also kind of disappointed, because he seems to be pretty sane and the arguments he'd heard inside the apartment were not very welcoming. 

_("Oh my God, Jisung, what did you do now? Are you getting arrested?"_

_"I will literally strangle you in your sleep, hyung.")_ is the next little bit of the conversation that Seungmin hears. 

"If Kim Seungmin is not at the door I don't wanna hear it!" Seungmin hears someone call next. 

What the actual fuck. 

And he can no longer keep his face smooth at that. His eyebrows jump up and he actually steps back, because that is the absolute last thing that he had expected to hear. Why on earth does Han Jisung know who he is, and why--

Seungmin is confused, startled, alarmed--and frankly, slightly terrified. 

The man at the door sighs and looks at Seungmin. 

"Are you Kim Seungmin?" 

Seungmin is a very common name. So is Kim. How likely would it be that he's talking about a completely different Kim Seungmin? Seungmin swallows and smiles through pursed lips. 

"My name...is Kim Seungmin, yeah," he says slowly. 

The man at the door's eyes widen and he looks behind him before looking back at Seungmin and narrowing them. 

"Are you lying to get inside of my apartment?" 

"What--no?" Seungmin takes a step back. What kind of hell fuckery has he roped himself into? This is becoming slightly alarming. 

"Well? Who is it?" someone (assumedly Jisung) calls from inside the apartment, and Seungmin swallows back his fear as the man looks him up and down one more time. 

"Would you believe me if I told you it was Kim Seungmin?" The man calls back, a lot more quietly this time, before he turns back to Seungmin and smiles again. "My name is Chan. Wanna come inside?" 


	2. don't come closer

Against all better judgement, Seungmin does indeed follow Chan into the small, cluttered apartment. 

"It's kind of messy," Chan smiles, splaying his fingers out apologetically. "We weren't expecting any guests." 

Great. Now Seungmin feels even more guilty for barging in on...whatever he's just barged into. He's not really quite sure what just happened in the past few minutes, if he's being completely honest. 

"I can grab Jisung for you if you want," Chan is saying when Seungmin snaps out of his thoughts. 

"Uh, yeah, that'd be great, thanks," Seungmin nods quickly. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to barge in on you--" 

Chan waves his hands frantically as if to ward away Seungmin's apology. 

"It's fine, it's fine, don't worry about it! I'll just be a minute, you can," Chan gestures to the empty chairs and then to the bar stools pushed up against one of the counters, "like, make yourself comfortable." 

Seungmin nods again, lowering himself slowly into the chair closest to him. It groans slightly under his weight as he sits down, and he almost jumps again before it settles and he's pretty certain it won't collapse. Chan turns to head down the hallway, but he pauses right before he walks through and turns around again, an odd expression on his face. 

"Also, I'm just gonna apologize in advance on Jisung's behalf," he says, quirking an eyebrow. "He's a bit of a hot mess." 

And then he disappears down the hallway, his footsteps getting lighter as he turns into one of the rooms all the way on the end. Seungmin wonders whether it would be appropriate to bring up the whole, 'If Kim Seungmin is not at the door I don't wanna hear it' fiasco, but he in himself doesn't really know what that means. As far as he's concerned, he's never even heard of Han Jisung before. And beyond that, there's a slight chance that Jisung isn't even talking about him. 

Kim Seungmin consists of two very common names in Korea. He's sure there are tons of Kim Seungmins on campus, even if he hasn't met any. Seungmin also has an excuse for that: he isn't the most social person in the world. 

But in the case scenario that Jisung is talking about him, Seungmin should probably be slightly concerned about that. He doesn't think he has any classes with Han Jisung, and he certainly hasn't been introduced to a Han Jisung by Hyunjin or Minho or Felix. 

Or maybe he has. Seungmin tunes out half of what they say whenever they go on a blabbering rant about something, especially if it's over lunch because personally Seungmin finds fried kimchi much more interesting than Minho complaining about dance practice. 

Before he gets to dwell on it any further, Chan returns, stepping into the kitchen with a slightly shorter blonde boy trailing behind him. 

Seungmin stands up quickly as Chan steps aside and Jisung comes forward slightly, his cheeks flushed pink and his bottom lip caught between his teeth. His eyes widen when they land on Seungmin and he quite literally moves back, freezing up. 

"Uh, hi, I'm, um--I'm Seungmin, but I...I think you already know that?" Seungmin says awkwardly, hoping to break the ice a bit. 

It doesn't work. Jisung flushes even deeper and looks down at the floor, biting his lip hard enough that it turns white and bloodless between his teeth. 

"Oops," Jisung says finally, smiling a bit sheepishly when he looks up. He clasps his hands behind his back, finally managing to make eye contact with Seungmin for a quick second before his eyes flit down again. "That was--um, that was really weird, please pretend you didn't hear that." 

"O--kay," Seungmin says slowly. He's honestly still just trying to grasp the entire situation. "Anyways, I have a favor to ask you, if you could spare me a few minutes." 

Jisung makes eye contact with him again, a mildly surprised expression on his face. The flushing seems to have resided a bit, but the tips of his ears are still flaming red. It's only then that Seungmin realizes that Jisung, too, looks oddly familiar. Not like someone he knows, but definitely like Seungmin's seen him somewhere before. 

He brushes it off quickly, though. He might've just seen him on the bus from campus, or something. He passes hundreds of people daily, he wouldn't be surprised if he managed to catch Jisung's eye before. 

"Me?" Jisung points at himself, and Seungmin holds his tongue from delivering the very sarcastic response he's programmed to give. 

"Yep," Seungmin says instead, ignoring the obvious. "As far as I know there's only one Han Jisung in this apartment." 

Chan snickers, and Seungmin realizes that he's been leaning against the wall in the mouth of the hallway the entire time. Jisung nods slowly, and then looks down at himself. He's wearing sweatpants and a black T-shirt that looks like it's probably seen better days, and Jisung seems to realize that he doesn't exactly represent the definition of--presentable. 

"Okay, um--" Jisung looks back up and back at Chan again. "Can--can you meet me at the campus coffee place in half an hour?" 

Seungmin again stops himself from asking why he can't just present his favor to Jisung here since he's already made his way all the way to the apartment and nods instead. Jisung is the one Seungmin needs help from, not the other way around. And besides that, Jisung looks mildly uncomfortably standing there and Seungmin has a weird feeling that it's his fault, so he should probably just agree and meet Jisung at the coffee shop. 

He also doesn't question why exactly Jisung needs half an hour to get ready, because that's his personal business and Seungmin isn't sure if he wants to know. 

"That's fine," Seungmin offers Jisung what he hopes is a pleasant, comforting grin. It seems that isn't what he ends up with, because Jisung kind of just looks terrified when he does. 

Not self-esteem crushing at all.

"I'll, uh, see you there, then," Seungmin finishes off awkwardly, and Jisung barely nods before he's whirling around and thudding down the hallway. Chan pushes himself off the wall and gives Seungmin another grin. There's something more behind it this time, kind of a teasing smirk that has Seungmin wondering what exactly is going to take place in this apartment when he leaves. 

"I'll walk you out," Chan says, even though the door is literally five feet behind him. Hospitality is key, or something. At least that's what Seungmin's mother always tells him. He, for one, would not be walking anyone out of his own apartment. He'd kick them out and put his feet up in the process. 

Once he's actually out of the apartment, he doesn't quite know what to do with himself. The campus coffee place is honestly not that far from here and it definitely isn't going to take him half an hour to get there, so he kind of loiters around one of the buildings nearby before he checks the time and takes the long way around all the way to the coffee shop. He's a little earlier than half an hour, but he figures he'll just grab a table and wait awkwardly for Jisung to show up. 

It isn't like he'd planned this meeting to be a long one, or anything, so he figures it'll just be a quick five minutes up-and-go. All he needs to do is hope that Jisung is nice enough to accept his pleading desperate offer to make him a song. He hasn't really gotten much of an edge on Jisung's character yet, considering he's talked to him for about 43 seconds. 

But as he takes the loop route to the coffee shop, he tries to put his finger on where he's seen Jisung before. 

Seungmin doesn't think it's a class, because he would've remembered that. Unless Jisung is in that godforsaken microeconomics class he takes, because he has no idea who's in that class with him. It's the only class Seungmin actually feels stupid in because he doesn't understand _shit_. 

Maybe he works somewhere Seungmin's been before. The only two places Seungmin frequents are this same coffee place and the library, though, and he doesn't recall seeing Jisung at either before. Or maybe he has. He's not exactly the most observant person around. 

Seungmin sighs and pulls the door to the place open. The little silver bells tinkle as he walks in, and he oddly enough finds Felix behind the counter. He waves when Seungmin walks in, grinning brightly at him before tending to the customer who steps up to the register. 

And even more oddly, Jisung is already here. Seungmin can see him already sitting in one of the booths by the window, his hair tucked under a baseball cap and his sweats from earlier switched out for jeans and a blue flannel. He hadn't really expected Jisung to be early so he's caught slightly off guard, but he makes his way over to the blonde boy anyways. 

Jisung doesn't notice him, staring down at his phone, so he clears his throat lightly when he reaches the table and gains his attention. 

"Oh, my bad, I didn't see you," Jisung says hurriedly, shoving his phone to the side. 

"No worries," Seungmin waves him off and takes a seat across from him, before he realizes that there are two cups of coffee on the table. Jisung's is black and iced, and Seungmin's own looks like--exactly what he orders every time he comes here. 

What on earth--

"It's, um--it's with almond milk and creamer mixed together," Jisung says after a few seconds. "Felix looked at me really weird when I said it and then he asked if it was for you and I told him it was so he made it--not that it's weird or anything because like I'm sure it tastes great and all but I guess a lot of people don't order coffee with almond milk and creamer and I didn't know you knew Felix, by the way, and--yeah," Jisung rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, trailing out of his ramble. 

Seungmin blinks when he looks up at him. All he wants to know is how the everliving fuck Jisung would know that he orders his coffee with almond milk and creamer mixed together. 

Jisung also seems to realize that, because his eyes widen and he waves his hands frantically. 

"I'm not stalking you or anything, wait, that sounded _so_ creepy oh gosh--no, I work here on Mondays and you usually don't come here on Mondays but one time you did so uh, yeah, I kind of just remembered--" 

"Thank you, Jisung," Seungmin cuts him off quickly before he can go on another rant to try and dig himself out of the hole he's seemingly dug himself into. "I can pay you back if you want--" 

"No!" Jisung says quickly, and then covers his mouth and looks away. "I mean, it's, uh--it's fine." 

Seungmin freezes in the middle of reaching for his wallet and pulls his hand back. He would reiterate with the polite, 'oh, are you sure?' but Jisung seems sure enough so he kind of just nods awkwardly and lets it happen. 

Sure. 

That does kind of explain where he's seen Jisung before, though. It was probably here. Though he doesn't really have any recollection of that moment at all, it would make sense. He probably just wasn't paying attention. 

"So, um, you said you needed something?" Jisung asks, breaking into the newly settled silence. 

He's toying with the edge of his flannel, something that Hyunjin always does with his clothes when he's nervous. Though he doesn't really understand why Jisung would be nervous when he's literally just talking to him. Besides, it might not even be nervous habit. 

"Right," Seungmin picks up the coffee cup and takes a sip of it gingerly to avoid burning his lips. "I think you know my roommate, Lee Minho?" 

Jisung's face brightens at that. 

"I know Minho-hyung! I met him before the dance showcase." 

"Right, well, he told me about the song you produced for him," Seungmin continues, toying with the handle of his coffee mug. 

Jisung nods slowly, fiddling with the paper wrapper of the straw. 

"Okay, um, well..this is really blatant of me, but I'll just go ahead and say it. I'm an animation and fine arts major, and I need a theme song for one of my projects. I was hoping you could help me out? I'd definitely be willing to pay you and everything." 

Jisung somehow manages to look more surprised than he did when he'd first seen Seungmin. 

" _Me_?" He asks, blinking quickly. "Are you sure you're not looking for Chan-hyung, or something? Because--" 

"I'm pretty sure Minho-hyung said Han Jisung, which is you," Seungmin raises an eyebrow. 

For some reason, that comment seems to make Jisung deflate a little bit, and Seungmin cannot for the life of him seem to figure out why. 

"Right, Minho-hyung told you," he mumbles slowly. "I--okay, I can--I'll try my best, Seungmin-ssi," jisung nods, looking up at him. "I can't make any promises about how much you'll like it, but if you're willing to sit down and discuss the logistics with me I'd be happy to help you out." 

"Wait--wait, _really_?" Seungmin had expected this to be a lot harder. He'd been ready to pull out multiple tactics in convincing. He had not expected Jisung to agree this fast. 

"Uh, yeah," Jisung smiles at him nervously for the first time. "Let's do it." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i would like you to know that i typed this chapter 3 times and it got deleted 3 times. this is rendition 4 you're reading, a completely different one than the first one, and i promise next time the plot will be better! post-apologies <3


	3. i have no intentions to wait

They end up exchanging numbers the same day at the coffee shop before Jisung has to leave for his lecture, but Seungmin doesn't actually hear from the other boy until three days later. 

He also spends those three days worrying excessively about whether he typed the digits in wrong or whether Jisung was expecting him to text first, or whether Jisung would even reach out whatsoever. 

"He'll text you, Seungmin, chill," Minho groans. He's stretching on the living room floor, because apparently stretching from home before he gets to the dance studio saves him as much of his booked time as possible. "It's been like, two days. He has a life too." 

"How long did it take before he texted you?" Seungmin bites his lip, picking up his phone to check it once again. 

"He didn't," Minho sighs. "I texted him the day we met because I was already starting later than I was supposed to." 

That doesn't help Seungmin's worry in the slightest. That only makes him more nervous about the fact that maybe he was supposed to be texting first. After all, it's _his_ project, he'd simply asked Jisung to assist. But he also doesn't want to put pressure on Jisung considering it's only been a few days and it probably isn't a big deal that he hasn't texted yet. He will text. He'd said he would. 

"But--" 

"I swear to God Seungmin if you're so worried text him yourself!" Minho finally snaps, but there's no actual bite in his tone. "You're so pretentious about being punctual, gosh." 

Seungmin would have replied to that, he truly would have, but the buzz of his phone cuts him off and he picks it up pathetically fast, nearly sagging in relief when he finds Jisung's contact number on the notification.   
  


**Han Jisung**

hey, it's jisung! 

i'm free to meet up tomorrow if you wanna get started! 

"Oh thank God," Seungmin mumbles, swiping up to reply immediately. 

  
**Me**

Oh hey!

Yeah tomorrow works, time and place?

**Han Jisung**

[location attached]

its our rented studio ^^

3?

**Me**

Sounds good 

  
"You're such a nerd, Seungmin, I cannot believe I chose to room with you," Minho stands up and winces as his knees crack. 

"Hag," Seungmin says, almost out of instinct, and there's a rubber band he hadn't known was in Minho's possession flying at him from across the room in retaliation. "If you lived with Felix your apartment would smell like a pig sty, if you roomed with Hyunjin neither of you would have room to stretch, and Jeongin doesn't live alone." 

"It was a rhetorical question," Minho grumbles. 

Seungmin sticks his tongue out at Minho when he leaves, and Minho gives him the bird over his shoulder. 

They're both mature adults, definitely. 

Seungmin stops by the coffee place before he goes to Jisung's studio the next day. Firstly because he constantly feels like he needs to be paying Jisung back for helping him out, and secondly because he knows Felix is currently working his shift and he'll get at least one free coffee of the hour. It's not very busy so Felix is on his phone, but he looks up immediately and grins at Seungmin when he sees him.

"Hi, Minnie!" 

"Hey, Lix, what's up?" 

Felix eagerly turns his phone screen around and holds it out to Seungmin--well, more like he kind of shoves it in Seungmin's face and he has to maneuver it at a viewing distance before he can actually make out what's on the screen. 

"I was gonna come show it to you later today anyways, but since you're here look!" 

"I can't--Felix stop moving your hand--dance recital?"

"Yes!" Felix looks incredibly excited, finally moving the phone away so Seungmin can look at him. "Our first recital is in two weeks! You're coming, right?" 

"Our--like you, Minho-hyung, and Hyunjin?" 

"No, like me and the two ghosts behind me," Felix's sarcasm does not match the blinding grin on his face, but Seungmin furrows his eyebrows at him anyways. "Obviously it's us. I already reserved tickets for you and Innie and a couple of other people, so now you have to come." 

"Aw," Seungmin reaches forward and pinches Felix's cheek, grinning at him cheekily. "My little baby's all grown up." 

"Yuck," Felix jerks away from him and pulls a grossed-out face. "You're a week _younger_ than me." 

"Time is a social construct and you act like you're five," Seungmin shrugs. "Can I have my coffee now?" 

Felix makes another face, but he's already typing in Seungmin's order. He almost hits enter before Seungmin remembers he's supposed to be getting coffee for two people and panics internally. 

"Wait, _wait_ \--wait, I need two coffees."

"Ooh," Felix's eyebrows shoot up and Seungmin already knows what he's about to say next, "are you going on a date?" 

"No," Seungmin shuts him down immediately, pushing him backwards with his pointer finger. "I'm doing a project. Can you just put whatever Jisung gets on there too?" 

Last time, he'd learned that Felix and Jisung were apparently friends, and though Seungmin rarely was acquainted with Felix's other circle of friends he'd still been surprised that he'd never even heard of Jisung prior to Minho telling him about him. 

(He's also still very bewildered that Jisung knows him--there's still been no mention of the whole first day fiasco, and Seungmin's curiosity is only intensifying when he can't seem to place his finger on where he's seen Jisung before.)

But Felix's shit-eating grin doesn't drop, not even when Seungmin clarifies. 

"For _Jisung_ , huh?" Felix looks like he knows all too much about the situation. 

"Yeah, so?" 

"Nothing," Felix completes the order and doesn't charge Seungmin for either. "Nothing at all!" He flits away to make the coffee, leaving Seungmin the slightest bit irritated and the slightest bit confused. 

Seungmin sets on his way to the studio once he's got whatever black monstrosity Jisung apparently likes to drink in his hand and his own (much milder) coffee in the other hand. Since Jisung hadn't exactly entitled him on how he was supposed to get inside, he texts him when he's two minutes away to let him know he's almost there and is pleasantly surprised when he arrives and the door's already cracked open. 

**Han Jisung**

yep, door's open! 

just come in

Seungmin steps inside the studio slowly. It's lit with bright panels overhead and the walls are an orangish-red color, and there's a giant television-sized monitor up on one of the walls and at least three laptops sitting in the desks beneath it. 

Jisung jumps up the second Seungmin walks in. He's wearing a white beanie and a denim jacket that's at least seven sizes too big for him because it comes down to his knees, and there's a pair of bright red headphones around his neck. 

"Hello," Seungmin makes an attempt to sound cheerful. He's too used to greeting everyone else with a rude gesture. 

"Hey," Jisung's eyes widen when he holds out the coffee. "Oh--you didn't have to--" 

"S'okay, Lix was running the register so it was free," Seungmin shrugs. 

"Oh," Jisung closes his hands around the cup and gives Seungmin a small smile. "Uh, thanks. So, um--you can sit, and then you can kind of like, tell me what you had in mind. Once I have an idea of where you want it to go I can work out the basic chords and stuff before I do lyrics." 

"Yeah, sure, that works," Seungmin sits down on one of the chairs carefully as Jisung takes the black rolling chair and pulls out a notebook. "Right, so basically I wanted my piece to be more emotion-based than story-based, since everyone is usually story-based. Like obviously the animation will be a story, but the song kind of doesn't have to explicitly follow it. So I wanted to base it off of the feeling you get about being scared of losing the people you have around you and being left alone, no matter how irrational it is, kind of." 

"Huh," Jisung looks up from where he'd scribbled stuff down on his notebook. "That's pretty deep." 

"I want it to invoke emotion in people instead of just depict something," Seungmin explains, splaying his hands out like it'll get his point across better. "Like I heard the song you made for Minho-hyung's dance solo and you absolutely _nailed_ it. It was incredible." 

Jisung ducks his head, but Seungmin catches the glimpse of his flushed cheeks before he does.

"I--thanks," Jisung mutters. He brushes back a wisp of hair and tucks it under his beanie before he clears his throat and sits up again. 

It's kind of amusing how this boy seems so different from the person he'd first heard from behind the door. Granted he doesn't really know much about Jisung's personality but the conversation he'd heard through the door had painted a completely different picture of this Jisung character than the person who sits in front of him now. He figures he shouldn't have been so apprehensive about working with someone new.

"I have a few guide instrumentals that I've already worked on before," Jisung explains as he clicks through files on his computer. "They're all pretty raw and nowhere near done, but if you hear anything you like we can run with that. If not, I'll start from scratch." 

"Right, sure," Seungmin pulls his chair up closer. 

Jisung's files, raw as they may be, still sound pretty good to Seungmin. He can at least differentiate constant beats between them, and he does end up settling on one he actually likes a lot. Jisung tells him it isn't finished yet and he still needs to edit in chorus and line breaks and add chord progressions, but Seungmin's adamant that it's the track he wants Jisung to work with. He spends about two hours with Jisung before the blonde boy smiles and lets him know that he'll start on the lyrics as soon as possible. 

He also tells Seungmin to check in with him on Monday to see how far along they are, and that the next time they meet they can work out a list of dates together so Seungmin doesn't have to rush to finish near the end. 

So Seungmin's pretty satisfied when he leaves the studio, trashing his empty coffee cup in the bin by the door on his way out. 

One thing that still bothers him, though, is how Jisung seems so incredibly familiar to him. He'd spent an awful lot of time looking at him today and he's almost certain he's seen the boy before somewhere, but he cannot for the life of him put his finger on where that could've been. He tries to filter through his classes and genuinely cannot remember Jisung from a single one of them, and he definitely doesn't remember Jisung ever taking his order at the coffee place (though if it had been Monday morning, he's not surprised that he doesn't remember.)

He'll figure it out somehow.

Until then, he thinks he's got a pretty good grasp on his project, so the tension on his shoulders is visibly less when he gets back to the apartment and shoves a pillow on Minho's face to cut out his snoring.

He probably won't suffocate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello it has been a very long time i'm sorry but i think i have my plot figured out and i'll update this more regularly hopefully! this chapter isn't too eventful of the plot but it'll get there!


End file.
